Project Watan Hopes that the Pope Will Bring Lebanon the Long-Awaited Olive Branch

Project Watan issued the following statement:

“Project Watan’s Thematic Forums team has long worked on structural papers aimed at rebuilding Lebanon, seeking a third way when history closes its doors, and striving to break the hellish cycle that has encircled the nation for decades.

Among these papers, ‘Neutrality as a Guarantee for Sovereignty and Unity’ stands out – not as a passing political stance, but as a national salvation formula that seeks to answer the fundamental question: how can Lebanon emerge from its existential impasse while maps and destinies in the Middle East are being redrawn, and the fate of peoples is decided on a land contested by external powers?

Project Watan looks forward to the visit of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV to our country with great anticipation and hope that he will bring the long-awaited olive branch and place Lebanon’s neutrality at the center of global attention, through a United Nations decision that excludes our country from the game of nations, prevents it from becoming a playground for others, and restores it as a homeland for humanity.

Such a decision would represent a national resurrection, reinstating Lebanon’s role as a bridge rather than a battleground, and as a haven for peace rather than a tool of war.

Lebanese neutrality is not a withdrawal from history; it is a return to the essence of the nation’s mission. It is the neutrality of justice in the face of power, of faith in the face of violence, and of humanity in the face of all that dehumanizes. At the same time, it guarantees unity, sovereignty, and stability; neutrality is the truest expression of the will to live together in dignity and mutual respect.

Its components include Lebanon refraining from involvement in alliances and conflicts, and other states refraining from using it or interfering in its decisions, in line with the spirit of international agreements that protect small nations from the greed of the powerful. At its core, it also entails Lebanon remaining committed to the causes of humanity and the freedom of peoples, witnessing to truth rather than serving as an instrument in conflict.

Bitter experiences and accumulated events, with all the tragedies they brought to a complex state like Lebanon, along with regional fires and prolonged conflicts in its surroundings, have shown that aligning with regional conflict axes or succumbing to external interference has, over the years, destroyed the partnership between Christians and Muslims, along with all its national, human, and spiritual significance.

As a result, Lebanon has found itself fragmented and unstable at its core, with crises succeeding one another and the foundations of the state dissolving, after all settlements and solutions failed to rebuild its structure. At this moment of truth, only one path remains to restore its unity, independence, and stability: the path of neutrality – both salvation and a condition for survival.”